LCA15 Bedhampton and Havant – north western suburbs Scale 1:25,000 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps with the permission of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Havant Borough Council LA078204 2006. Hermitage Stream, Hawthorn Walk Hooks Row Hulbert Road, Leigh Park Penshurst Road, Bedhampton HAVANT BOROUGH TOWNSCAPE, LANDSCAPE AND SEASCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT FEBRUARY 2007 198 LCA15 Bedhampton and Havant – north western suburbs Introduction The area contains one landscape type: Urban Upper Harbour Plain LCT E. A full description of the characteristics common to this type is set out within Section 4. The area is composed of nine historic landscape character types: Assarted Pre-1810 (4.1); Pre-War Residential (9.6.4); Post-War Residential (9.6.5); 60’s and 70’s Residential (9.6.6); 20th Century Schools and Playing Fields (9.12.2); Large-Scale Commercial (9.15); Sports Fields (11.3); Open Ground (11.5); and Allotments (11.6) (Figure 1). Location Located in the south west of Havant and enclosed by the Hermitage Stream to the north and Bedhampton to the south. Relationship to adjacent character areas LCA11 A3 (M) Eastern Corridor: The wooded character within LCA11 is also apparent on the western edges of LCA15, as seen around the northern end of Hulbert Road. LCA12 Portsdown Hill: Dwellings at Hillmead Gardens are visually prominent from the adjacent landscape due to the lack of rear garden vegetation. The boundary vegetation to the rear of the dwellings along Brooklands Road includes a number of mature trees which create a better screen to the urban edge, as seen from adjacent areas within LCA12. Two contrasting character areas: LCA12 with a strong open character and LCA15 an enclosed urban character. LCA13 Historic Bedhampton: The urban character of LCA15 abuts the more enclosed village character found at Bedhampton. The transition to the east is marked by the Portsdown Hill Road, while to the west by the southern edge of the disused chalk quarry which contains Havant Retail Park. LCA14 Havant Historic Core: Intervisibility is provided along the B2149, whilst the railway line and the line of periphery rear gardens separate these two LCAs physically and visually. The dilution of the historic landscape character of LCA14 along its periphery tends to merge into LCA15 where large areas of similar post war housing prevail. LCA16 Leigh Park: Separated by the Hermitage Stream, although the southern part of LCA15 includes part of the Hermitage Stream. The vegetation along this corridor provides a partial visual screen for both sides of development. Strong landscape connections with similar post war housing, lines and clusters of mature trees and open areas of recreational grassland. Historic development This area formed the southern part of Bedhampton Park, which was ploughed up in the early 18th century. The main road between the main house and Bedhampton to the south, Park Lane, became the focus of a number of farms, of which two lay in this LCA. The southern part of the LCA was the parkland section of the estate of 18th century Belmont, which had a belvedere, known as Belmont Castle, situated close to the long barrow to the west. Although the line of the Roman Road ran through Belmont Park, the layout of the parkland features did not respect or reflect it. The line of the road marking the northern boundary of Belmont survives as Scratchface Lane, though in the 19th century, this name referred to a stretch of road to the east of Park Lane, now (the partly modified) Hooks Lane. Early residential development in HAVANT BOROUGH TOWNSCAPE, LANDSCAPE AND SEASCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT FEBRUARY 2007 199 the 1930's was focussed on the southern end of Park Lane, and on Hulbert Road, created during the late 19th and early 20th century. The provisional layout of roads within the former area of Belmont Park also took place in the 1930's. Three naval camps, Belmont, Bedhampton and Daedalus III, constructed during the war and later used to house Portsmouth people made homeless by bombing, are situated within this LCA. A map of 1945, marked up with the proposed alignments of Barncroft Way and Purbrook Way is reproduced in a book on the naval camps. The main period of residential development in this LCA took place in the early post-war period, with only the northern area around Purbrook Way being developed in the 60's/70's. Key characteristics of Bedhampton and Havant – north western suburbs Physical: Landform, soils and land cover o The landform falls from the west (at around 25mAOD) in an undulating manner down to a less undulating landform at a around 10mAOD o To the north the underlying geology is London Clay, while to the south west lie the Lambeth group, the Portsdown Chalk formation and the Spetisbury Chalk Member, with a covering of periglacial deposits found across the north east. This has given rise to slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base rich loamy and clayey soils o Although streams are a feature to the west, their courses have been piped through the built environment of this LCA apart from the canalised Hermitage Stream o Street trees form a feature along the B2150. Additionally at the northern part of the B2150, the landscape is further characterised by woodland o Housing areas for example around Hazelholt Drive are characterised by wide treeless grass verges and larger open grass areas o The southern part of Hermitage Stream provides a vegetated corridor of trees, shrubs and adjacent areas of grassland o An area of allotments exists to the south providing an area of contrasting forms, colours and textures o Rear garden vegetation especially as shown to the west of Hulbert Road has created a belt of mature trees, which although not particularly visually prominent from the public domain creates a strong feature within the built environment o The recreation ground at Havant RFC and the school grounds at Barncroft School contain a number of mature trees around the periphery, although the area of public grassland adjacent to St Christopher’s Road is more treeless o Two fields retained in original form from previous agricultural area o Bounded to the north by the green corridor of the Hermitage Stream. Biodiversity o This landscape character area is urban and provides a variety of habitats through elements such as gardens and street trees o The main habitat type tends to be amenity grassland although there is a large sports field in the south east. There is one patch of broadleaved woodland in the west of the landscape character area o There is a strip of scattered trees over grassland in the south east of the area and this is associated with the riverside habitat mosaic that runs along the outside of the eastern boundary of this landscape character area HAVANT BOROUGH TOWNSCAPE, LANDSCAPE AND SEASCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT FEBRUARY 2007 200 o At the northern extent of the area there is a small mosaic of habitats, linking broadleaved woodland with forestry scrub and unimproved neutral grassland. This extends north and westwards out of the area and into LCA 11. Historic and built environment o Dominated by residential development, the few open spaces and recreation grounds reflect the survival of individual fields from a landscape of irregular assarted fields with wavy boundaries. Belts of mature trees within residential areas are remnants of Little Park Wood and Hook's Row o Although some of the historic routes survive through this area, their origins have largely been obscured by the density of residential development, though in many areas, the boundaries of the 18th century fields can be traced in the boundaries within the housing estates o Two former fields survive in their original layout, the western one now forming the recreation ground on Scratchface Lane, and the second forming the recreation ground and sports field on Hook's Lane o Although the internal road layout of the former Bedhampton naval camp has been largely obliterated by later development, that of the Daedalus camp to its north is reflected closely in the layout of Redbridge Grove, Hazelholt Drive etc o Pre-war and post-war residential area of mixed character, but predominantly long sweeping roads and detached and semi-detached properties with generous gardens o The density of settlement grain clearly reflects ownership within this area, with densely packed areas comprising short (4 or 6 house) terraces and semi­ detached municipal housing along, and to the north of Purbrook Way, contrasting with the more generous settlement grain of the privately owned bungalows, detached and semi-detached houses to the south-west o Efforts have been made to improve the appearance and individuality of the municipal housing by means of painting in bright colours, but the style and detail of the houses is very simple (rendered with profiled cement roof tiles) o The variety of design and detail in the privately owned houses is much more individual. Almost exclusively of brick, the colour of the brick varies between yellow, red and brown, and many have been rendered. Tile hung bays, and lapped timber gables provide variety, and roof profiles vary from simple gabled, through hipped with side catslides, to quite complex profiles with hips and hipped gables o Red brick and flint walls are characteristic along Hulbert Road o A disused chalk pit to the west contains large warehouse style buildings which form Havant Retail Park o The edge of the built environment on the west is well defined (although the adjacent supermarkets slightly degrade this division) as approaching along Purbrook Road. This change from woodland to the built environment creates a gateway to Havant from the west.